Building a Heathier Europe

Building a Heathier Europe

The ambitious project INHERIT just published the Route Map report, consisting of 20 policy interventions. This report is meant as a supportive tool, with the great potential of contributing towards INHERIT’s triple win principle: finding ways of living, moving, and consuming that protect the environment, improve health and promote health equity.

The 20 innovative policies are conceptualised to encourage holistic planning and vision, and to drive change. At the same time, these policies serve as sources of inspiration for better lifestyles in healthier, happier and more equitable societies in Europe and beyond.

The policies included in the report were developed and validated through a multistakeholder process with experts from all over Europe. The selection process involved consideration for innovationand potential for implementation at the local, national and European levels.

The policies cover leverage areas and opportunities in four lifestyle areas: green space, energy efficient housing, (active) mobility and (food) consumption. An additional fifth ‘general’ area summarises issues and developments that foster the transition to healthier, more sustainable and more equitable European societies.

Policies pertaining to green space focus on improvements of the accessibility, availability and usability of green spaces and related benefits. The energy efficient housing policies tap into opportunities for making households’ energy consumption more sustainable and efficient. Policies of the (active) mobility area look into diversifying current modes of transport, consequently reducing our dependence on motorised transport. Lastly, policies found in the consumption area focus on promoting sustainable and healthy diets, and improving related food production processes.

The INHERIT Policy Route Map also showcases how the different areas of the project, the behavioural changes of the target groups, and the project’s forward-looking approach – bringing policy interventions to implementation – are contributing to the achievement of specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).